The post indicated that the LaBelle child died Saturday afternoon.
"The battle is over for Zac but he won the war," the post concluded.
Doctors had given Zachary
an experimental drug to treat the rare amoeba, called Naegleria
fowleri, that he had.
Zachary's family told CNN affiliate WBBH
they believe that the boy -- who they described as an active
seventh-grader -- was infected while kneeboarding with friends in a
water-filled ditch by his house on August 3.
After he was
hospitalized, the boy underwent brain surgery, and doctors diagnosed him
with primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, according to WBBH.
After news emerged
regarding Zachary's diagnosis, the Florida Department of Health issued a
warning to swimmers that high water temperatures and low water levels
provide the perfect breeding ground for this rare amoeba.
The amoeba enters the body through the nose and travels
to the brain. There is no danger of infection from drinking contaminated
water, the CDC said.
"This infection is one
of the most severe infections that we know of," Dr. Dirk Haselow of the
Arkansas Department of Health told CNN affiliate WMC about Kali's case.
"Ninety-nine percent of people who get it die."
The first symptoms of
primary amoebic meningoencephalitis appear one to seven days after
infection, including headache, fever, nausea, vomiting and a stiff neck,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Later symptoms include
confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, loss of
balance, seizures and hallucinations," the agency website says. "After
the start of symptoms, the disease progresses rapidly and usually causes
death within one to 12 days."
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